AMG Review of Kimba Fá

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

On her first album in more than five years, Peruvian singer Eva Ayllón demonstrates her own versatility and that of the musical styles she favors, Afro-Peruvian music and música criolla (the creole music of Lima), carefully listing each rhythmic subgenre beside the titles of the tracks. So, the forceful opener, "El Muñeco de la Ciudad" (The City's Best Looking Guy) is a festejo; the sensuous call-and-response follow-up, "Me Sabe a Canela" (It Tastes Like Cinnamon) is a landó; and the third track, the folkish "El Surco" (An Open Furrow) is another festejo, even if a much calmer sort. Whatever the mood or the beat, the constants are rhythmically played acoustic guitars and Latin percussion, plus Ayllón's throaty, emotive vocals. She brings in elements from other, related cultures on occasion, turning more overtly African on "Quimba, Fá, Malambo, Ñeque," a celebration of the movement of music and culture from Africa to Peru, and using a horn section on "Ánimo y Aliento" (Encouragement and Spirit), which is accurately described as a salsa and wouldn't sound out of place at a street fair in the Bronx, NY. Lyrically, the songs range from impassioned expressions of romantic feeling, as in "Adoro" (I Adore), to laments about the slavery that is the heritage of Peruvian blacks. But whatever the message is, the beat rarely flags. (The final two tracks, "Andar Andar" and "Toro Mata," are taken from Ayllón's DVD Eva Live from Hollywood.)